Lip dryness is, at a minimum annoying, and, at worst, painful. Dry lips may crack, become scaly and even bleed. One way to keep the lips moist is by licking them. As the skin around the mouth gets irritated, many will begin to lick at it, which makes it even more red and irritated. This leads to the classic lip licker’s dermatitis we see often in the winter.

The most important treatment is to stop licking your lips. This sounds easy, but it is hard for someone with dry lips. Regularly applying a bland moisturizer, as often as hourly, is necessary so you won’t feel the need to lick your lips. At bed time, a larger amount is needed to lessen lip licking while sleeping. In some cases prescription medications are required. With proper treatment, lip licker’s dermatitis goes away in a couple of weeks with no scarring or permanent skin damage.

Tips for treating Lip Licker’s Dermatits:

1. Minimize licking of Lips (very difficult)

2. Apply over the counter hydrocortisone ointment to affected areas twice a day

3. Apply Aquaphor ointment hourly or whenever you have the urge to lick your lips

Aspiring model, Priscilla Caputo, became depressed and suicidal after excessive lip injections ruined her looks. Mail Online reports that the aspiring model, from California did not realize what she was doing to her looks until she was a parody of her former self.

“It’s like when some fat people look in the mirror and they don’t see a fat person. I’d look in the mirror and see somebody who needed a little more help, ” said Priscilla.

Priscilla has since stopped any lip procedures and is slowly regaining her original lip proportion.

This over-exaggerated look is what scares many patients away from augmenting their lips with products such as Restylane or Juvederm. This women would have needed A LOT of product to see these results. A reasonable amount of product can be used to give a patient a little more fullness or a more youthful appearance. Knowing when to stop is important. Talk to your medical provider if you need help determining when enough is enough.